Expert witness in State Department trials against former Nazis to speak about work as both historian and prosecutor

March 23, 2016

Charles Sydnor will give a lecture at the University of Richmond titled “A Witness Against Evil: The Historian as Witness in Nazi War Crimes Tribunals,” on March 28, 5 p.m. in Richmond School of Law’s Moot Court Room.

The talk will center on how the tasks of the historian and the prosecutor intersect in cases involving trials of former Nazi and SS perpetrators of the Holocaust.

“His talk will focus, in large part, on how someone with a non-legal background is prepared to testify at trials,” said Jon Panofsky, president of the Jewish Law Students Association. “His knowledge is impressive and his testimony highly regarded.

Sydnor was an expert witness for the State Department from 1981-2006 and helped strip more than 50 former Nazis of their U.S. citizenship. He also served as president and executive director of the Virginia Holocaust Museum from 2013 to 2015.

The event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Law Students Association, the American Constitution Society, the Law Student Human Rights Coalition, the Federalist Society and Equality Alliance.